Roundup: The temporary, temporary House of Commons

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Something that caught my eye over the long weekend was a look at the “just in case” temporary, temporary House of Commons Chamber that has been assembled inside the Parliamentary ballroom in the Sir John A Macdonald Building. It seems that while maintenance is happening in the actual temporary Chamber in the West Block, and the threat of a possible recall over the BC ports issue, they decided to do some contingency planning and assemble this contingency Commons. This being said, I wouldn’t expect all MPs to attend it—a good many of them would avail themselves of the hybrid sitting rules (because they have so many things happening in their ridings *jazz hands* that they couldn’t possibly attend), with the exception of the Conservatives, because they would attend in person to prove a point. My biggest complaint is that the configuration shown in the CBC piece would have two lecterns at the end of the Chamber, rather than be arranged as despatch boxes like they do in Westminster, which would certainly be how I would have preferred it.

Meanwhile, new Government House Leader Karina Gould is taking on the perennial promise to make Question Period better, which…isn’t really her call. And, frankly, the one thing that the government could do to make it a serious exercise would be to ban talking points, pat lines and happy-clappy pabulum in favour of making ministers answer questions properly…but they won’t do that, because PMO would never allow it because it goes against the whole ethos of message control that has rotted politics but they insist on following.

So, with the greatest of respect, all of the platitudes in the world about making Question Period something Canadians can be “proud” of is empty rhetoric unless the government is committed to doing the hard work and communicating like human beings, which they absolutely won’t do. And so, our Parliament will continue to slide into a place of irredeemable unseriousness, because that’s apparently the way they like it by adhering to that ethos.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Following missiles strikes on the city of Pokrovsk, Ukrainian authorities are accusing Russians of deliberately targeting emergency workers by drawing them to the scene of a missile strike, and then targeting that scene with a second strike a short while later. Russians launched a massive air attack, largely on western Ukraine, on Sunday, purported in retaliation for a Ukrainian drone strike against a Russian tanker delivering fuel to its forces. Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities say they prevented a Russian hack on their armed forces’ combat information system. Ukraine’s commander-in-chief says that they are putting in place the conditions to advance on the battlefield.

Good reads:

  • Mélanie Joly has suspended aid to Niger’s government after a military coup, and levied sanctions against more Iranians supplying drones to Russia.
  • Joly has been stalling on a decision about joining a Seoul-based vaccine programme that aims to help improve access for poor countries.
  • Randy Boissonnault announced a pilot project that allows employers with a good track record with temporary foreign workers to forego some of the paperwork.
  • Jonathan Wilkinson says the government will tie tax credits for clean energy projects to promises by provinces to meet the 2035 goal; Alberta is already upset.
  • Bill Blair’s claims that he instituted culture change in the Toronto Police are being disputed, as they very well should be.
  • Blair also insists that people like it when the Canadian Forces show up at disaster scenes domestically, which could hamper development of a civilianized agency.
  • Mark Holland talks about how working for a health advocacy organisation pulled him out of his depression after he lost his seat in 2011.
  • The former head of personnel of the Canadian Forces has begun his sexual assault trial. (Gee, why might there be a recruitment and retention crisis?)
  • A group of Canadian publishers have launched a complaint with the Competition Bureau around Facebook blocking links under abuse of dominance rules.
  • Business groups want the federal government to declare ports an essential service in order to prevent future strikes (which would likely by unconstitutional).
  • Diplomats in a number of embassies in Ottawa are looking for clarity from the Conservatives on their foreign policy, which they haven’t focused on at all.
  • The Conservatives have launched a $3 million advertising campaign to “humanise” Pierre Poilievre to the general public that heavily features his family.
  • Danielle Smith is trying to blame the federal government for her ridiculous decision to “pause” development of green energy for the next nine months.
  • The Globe and Mail profiles Danielle Smith’s main advisor, Rob Anderson.
  • Keldon Bester warns that the bigger danger is the federal government backing down in the face of web giant bullying tactics when it comes to Bill C-18.
  • Althia Raj proposes returning to a stricter donation cap and reviving the per-vote subsidy as a way of reducing the radicalizing nature of fundraising pitches.
  • Colby Cosh offers a great reiteration of the post-election government formation rules, and puts a lot of blame (rightfully!) on the “TV muppets and their producers.”
  • Paul Wells points to the revelations of creative accounting when it comes to the two billion trees programme, and the claim they are ahead of schedule.
  • My column looks at a recent study comparing our QP with that in the UK, Australia and Ireland, and makes some observations on the findings.

Odds and ends:

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